Chiltern Birder

With sunflower hearts and a fat ball feeder in the back garden and a fat bar in the front the tits have been turning up in numbers. Mainly blues but we have also had the occasional great and a single coal tit. At lunchtime today I looked out to see the fat ball feeder absolutely covered with long tailed tits. After a while the flock moved on up the lane taking a toll from the feeder in the front garden on their way. So far we have had no finches but the resident robins are in evidence as well as the occasional wood pigeon and blackbird.

I don't normally pay much attention to the various black corvids around here so it came as a bit of a shock yesterday to hear what was distinctly the croaking of a raven from the air above my garden. Not being a determined twitcher I wasn't aware that they had been spreading into this area but I heard it again this morning. Clearly I will have to pay more attention to the various large blackl birds in future.

Driving down the Chess valley on Monday the sight of yet another little egret started me thinking that they were becoming more  ubiquitous that herons. That seemed to be the key to several unusual sightings. On Monday I saw a juvenile heron standing in the middle of the tarmac path between Bury and Stockers Lakes. Then on Tuesday I went to Thame by public transport. Walking down White Hill in Chesham one flew low overhead and landed on top of a tree in one of the gardens between White Hill and Esksdale Avenue. The branch was barely strong enough leading to the huge bird gently bouncing up and down. Later on the bus from Aylesbury to Thame there was another standing in the middle of a ploughed field near Dinton. This morning walking along Botley Road a redwing landed on the path in front of me as if it was posing for a picture in a field guide. I was able to have by best ever look at the the colour and markings before it finally flew into Codmore Field. On Monday the cold sn...

Tits are flitting in and out of the garden but most birds still seem to be out on the fields. Some of the arable fields seem to have been left fallow after harvest and the stubbles are attracting flocks of chaffinches. As I haven't been birding on our local fields lately I am relying on naked eye observations but I couldn't make out any other finch species. Looking along the hedgerows a flock of redwing was flitting along the treetops. It was very frustrating to be without the bins as they seemed very nervous and kept moving away from me.

Not the earliest year but still a nice suprise. Walking into Chesham along Botley Road one crossed in front of me and flew across a field of horses. This field is popular with the swallows probably because there are always animals grazing with associated insects around them. I also saw an orange tip butterfly on the same walk and noticed that flowers were out on the horse chestnuts. Spring develops so rapidly! In the garden the starlings are becoming a lot more active.

The local magpies have been expressing a lot of interest in the blackbirds' nest and the alarm calls have sent me out into the garden to chase them off on a couple of occasions. I was rewarded for the good deed later with an excellent view of a great spotted woodpecker on the feeder in the front garden. The dunnocks seem to have lost interest in the honeysuckle so I imagine that they found it too close to the back door, and to my potting bench, for a nest. Goldfinches and chaffinches have been regular visitors along with blue and great tits and of course the resident robin. One nice sight last week was a buzzard and a kite in the air together over Botley. With them both circling it was a great opportunity to study the differences in the silhouettes.

A rather damp misty day today with that grey light that seems to drain the colour from things at any distance. Giving the front garden some much overdue tidying I was distracted by a pair of blackbirds taking berries from the rowan tree in the garden. There was a good crop this year and most have now been taken although this is the first opportunity that I have had to see this in action. While I was watching I realised that there was a lot of activity in the treetops in Broomstick Lane and saw a flock of redwing making their way along the canopy towards Ley Hill. They stayed in the high branches and followed the line of the lane very precisely with none spilling out to the lower trees in the gardens.

After the cold weather it is now very warm. Garden activity is much the same with occasional starlings and long tailed tits as well as dunnocks, blackbirds, robins and blue and great tits. A chaffinch made a brief visit this morning, the first that I have seen in the garden for a while. The blackcap hasn't returned but I saw one by the side of Botley Road this morning as well as swallows swooping over the paddocks nearby. Both great spotted and green woodpeckers have been audible but none have been visible.

For the first time in months I have actually seen some birds in the back garden. First a great tit and then a flock of blue tits landed on the feeder brackets and seemed to take insects sheltering in the joints with the pole. It seemed like a good idea to pick up some peanuts while I was shopping and put a feeder out again. Has anything come to the feeder? Of course not. A neighbour seems to have had a far more interesting visit, as I was returning with the shopping I saw a heron land in the back gardens opposite. Quite a suprise on a naturally waterless hilltop. The pond owner's fish are probably a far more expensive food than my bag of peanuts.

Out for a walk today the first hints of autumn are visible with a few trees showing hints of gold among the green. It has been a poor year for both top fruit and berries with no quinces setting on my trees and no crabb apples in the lane while blackberries have been fewer and smaller than usual. I have put out a fat block, much earlier than usual but it has only been there a couple of days, not long enough to see any reaction yet. While walking a buzzard announced itself with a loud mew before appearing over the ridge right in front of us. We were given the opportunity to compare calls a few minutes later when an equally vocal kite came into view. The jackdaws were noisy and seemed to be flying high very much after the manner of martins or switfts. There were also smaller birds, too small to make out even with binoculars but with flight patterns similar to martins.

A glorious day for a walk today, too glorious considering the present drought. I took my usual circuit down Bottom Lane then across the field path back towards Tylers Hill Road. Bluebells were in leaf in the hedgerow, hopefully natives rather than garden escapes, and a few snowdrops were in flower. A few minutes later I was serenaded by a skylark, the first that I have heard this year. A little further down the lane I heard a buzzard mewing although by the time I was out in the open it had gone. In fact, apart from a few crows and pigeons and a solitary blackbird everything seemed to be out of sight although the various songsters were making plenty of noise and I could hear a green woodpecker somewhere over towards Botley Road. In the garden I have seen a long tailed tit on the starling bar as well as the regular blackbirds and blue tits. Still no starlings however which is a huge change on previous years.

An early work finish meant that I had a rare chance of a weekday walk locally. So I did my favourite circuit down Broomstick Lane and Bottom Lane then back across the fields. It was suprising to see a late swallow skimming the arable, newly green with late sown something. Coming back in a lovely mild blustery weather the kites were in evidence with three or four individuals seen over a very short distance. One skimmed over a flock of jackdaws at low level but they seemed totally uninterested. A little later a flock of crows looked a little more threatening but didn't mob the bird. One must have been from this year's brood as it was quite small by kite standards. I could judge the size well as it came very close. The only other bird that was obvious was a yellowhammer that vanished into the hedge, one of the closest that I have seen to home.

Not for long fotunately. I was walking though the village this afternoon and noticed a lot of birds in the air. After paying attention to where I was walking for a minute I looked up again and the sky was empty. Suddenly a red kite came into view and circled alongside Botley Road for several minutes. Once it moved away to the north other birds were quickly taking to the air again.